Mike Green hit on the head in Capitals' 6-0 loss to the Rangers

By
Katie Carrera

The Capitals' 6-0 loss to the Rangers on Friday night at Verizon Center marked Washington's worst home loss since Nov. 24, 2006, and continued the team's ongoing one-step-forward, two-steps-back trend that has prevailed throughout the season.

Arguably the worst part of the Capitals' ninth shutout of the 2010-11 season, though, was when Mike Green was forced to leave the game after playing only 2 minutes 25 seconds following the second hit to his head this month. The video above shows the original clip and replay footage of Rangers' Derek Stepan's hit on Green, which occurred a few seconds after Green had cross-checked the rookie forward behind the goal line.

The replay shows Stepan's shoulder, and possibly his elbow or upper arm as well, coming into contact with Green's head. Green did not return to the ice and is day-to-day. The two-time Norris Trophy finalist will not travel with the team for the Capitals' game on Long Island on Saturday.

""Right now it's cautionary," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Depending on what angle, it looked like [Stepan] came up with the shoulder and it looked like the shoulder hit him in the jaw type thing. From behind it would have looked like an elbow, but I don't think it was."

Afterward Stepan said he did not intentionally try to hurt Green.

"Obviously, I didn't try to do it. But sometimes it happens. I think my shoulder got him," Stepan said. "I was just trying to protect my body and I kind of caught him off guard. I know if I do [face discipline from the NHL], it's not like I was trying to make a dirty hit. It was just a battle for position. It makes it tough. It wasn't like I was viciously spinning around. It was just a puck battle. I caught him in a vulnerable spot."

While it's unknown what lasting effect Stepan's hit on Green might have on the defenseman, it came in just his second appearance since he was struck in the head by a puck on Feb. 6 against Pittsburgh. That injury that caused Green to miss six of the seven games prior to Friday.

Green was hit on the head near his right ear by a slap shot from Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik. The blow required stitches and Green cited wooziness, balance problems and headaches, according to comments from Boudreau at the time, symptoms consistent with a concussion though the team said one was not diagnosed.

Green missed the next game, Feb. 8 against San Jose, and passed neuropsychological tests before he appeared on Feb. 12 against Los Angeles. After playing 22:03 in the 4-1 loss to the Kings, though, Green missed five straight contests when he began experiencing balance problems again because of what the team called an inner-ear trauma that resulted from being hit by the puck vs. the Penguins.

With the trade deadline less than three full days away, it wouldn't be surprising if questions or lingering uncertainty about Green's health pushes General Manager George McPhee to acquire another defenseman for depth.

Excuse me, Stepan! First you make a solid hit directly to Green's jaw! Then you try a knee-on-knee that Ovi adroitly avoided!

Why didn't one player from the caps organization even give Stepan a hard hit?

No, instead the Caps players took up a collection and sent him chocolates and flowers to his hotel room!

What's all this "Stay Angry" business?

You can't "stay angry" until you first "get angry!"

C'mon, Caps, show some nads and put players like Stepan on the ice! As someone posted, Brads had to fight after putting a clean hit on the biggest goon (Cooke) in the league! Then Stepan puts down Green and skates free!

I see it like this: Laich got 4 mins HS because players "Always must be in control of their stick." How bout also, "Players must always be in control of their elbows?"

Say what you will, but Stepan interfered with Green (wasn't near puck) and injured him in the process. That's like if you run a stop sign and hit someone you are really guilty because you were committing a foul in the first place.

When does Stepan pay?

I'll bet the "new found" Isles are drooling to play us tomorrow. (They'll probably make it Pierre Turgeon night.)

Fact #2 - Derek Stepan is an example of a player who if he played for the Caps would never finish a single check.

Fact #3 - Stepan took a way worse crosscheck by Green than the shoulder he delivered in return

Fact #4 - Brooks Laich needs to cut out his postgame supportive comments of Boudreau. Any coach who dares to dress Perreault and Gordon on the same line and actually considers them a "checking" line is an absolute freakin idiot.

Fact #5 - Erskine played an inspired game

Fact #6 - the much maligned Steve Eminger was more physical than anyone on the Caps except for Erskine and pretty responsible defensively.

Fact #7 - Ryan McDonagh is a better young defensive prospect than anyone in the Caps organization.

Fact #8 - Semin played an ornery game tonight (for him anyway). And yet he still made his typical ho hum stupid hooking error and blowing off any defensive responsibilities. F Semin. Hope he gets killed by a legal check so the guy who hits him doesn't get in trouble.

Fact #9 - Jeff Schultz sucks

Fact #10 - McPhee sucks and the only way he ever makes this team better is when he's FORCED to do it by a horrible showing of his boys leading upto the trade deadline.

Laich got 4 mins HS because players "Always must be in control of their stick." How bout also, "Players must always be in control of their elbows?"

Say what you will, but Stepan interfered with Green (wasn't near puck) and injured him in the process. That's like if you run a stop sign and hit someone you are really guilty because you were committing a foul in the first place.

Posted by: tominsocal1 | February 26, 2011 12:52 AM

Fair points.

Now that I watch it again, the angle he takes is way too extreme to justify the natural body movement you make with a man coming in behind you. He skates way out of the path of the puck. Not sure he got a lot of elbow but it was a suspicious path he took.

no you're not wrong. Stepan was a great pickup by Glen Sather (10x the freaking GM McPhee could ever hope to be). But Stepan is far from a dirty player. He's just competitive. A few of our chickenshts could stand to be a little more competitive.

Green's xcheck was way more blatant than an interference play by Stepan.

Lets not cry about it. Green got knocked out of the game because of his concussion history, nothing more. Players get hit much harder than that during the course of a game with no injury.

Should the Caps have gone after Stepan even though it wasn't a "bad" hit? Sure. But this is the stinkin Washington glory holes we're talkin about. They're about as whipped as you can get. And I hope they get spanked in that 1st round and no idiotic fans can swallow the hot goalie excuse. This team deserves to get sht on.

Funny how Hannan plays a great game (better than Erskine), breaks up a 3 on 1 with a very agressive play yet, lets give the hard hat to the #1 guy ON THE ICE who should have responded to Stepan! Yeah, and you guys b!tch at BB for not giving ice time by merit. Can't have it both ways fellas.

On a side note, could Schultz look any more lost? I mean is he not our new Nyls? He's skating frickin circles in our D zone! For the Love of the Game stop this non sense! My 6yr old can skate faster than him!

I saw Semin circle toward a Ranger who had the puck on his stick facing the goal in the corner of our d-zone.

Good start. The problem?

He continued circling away and casually reached out from a safe distance to tap him with his stick. Needless to say, the player maintained possession of the puck and no other Capital was near him since they thought Semin was covering him. He then skated in on goal.

funny how Hannan plays a great game (better than Erskine), breaks up a 3 on 1 with a very agressive play yet, lets give the hard hat to the #1 guy ON THE ICE who should have responded to Stepan! Yeah, and you guys b!tch at BB for not giving ice time by merit. Can't have it both ways fellas.
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you wanna bag on the one guy who hit every Ranger tonight ? Its such a stupid misdirected anger.

NO ONE ELSE ON OUR DEFENSE WOULD HAVE RESPONDED EITHER IN THAT IDENTICAL SITUATION. So you may as well rant on them too. At least Erskine redeemed himself with an ultra phsyical game full of open ice hits on Rag forwards tonight. Aside from one Carlson hit on Ansimov, the rest of our D was soft as butter.

Up until that point we were dominating play. OV was all over the place looking like he was gonna get a hat trick, Chimmer got in a fight and we were rollin.

Then in a 5 sesond clip our top Dman gets completely dropped in the corner and absolutely NOBODY did anything. Play goes on & bam goal!

When Green walked back to the locker room he might as well of taken the rest of the team with him b/c nobody else showed up from that point on. At the time I thought Hannan's breakup of the 3 on 1 was a key play that coulda turned the tides for us but nope. Nothin.

You are joking right tmac? Coming on here and spitting stuff from a keyboard makes someone tough? If you want a comedy act you need to change your material. The scarf act is old, used up, and really not all that funny anyway. What you spewed sounds like someone who has completely gien up on the team so. See ya. If you stop watching the capitals it will give you time to hang out with the other cool, tough, keyboard pounding premature balding, tweet checking, facebook using friends.

Posted by: fanohock1

howbout you state your case instead of attacking a poster.

Go ahead.

tell us why our anger is histrionic and over the top.

Did your boys play well tonight? Was it..the first time they mailed in an effort?

zmega said it right. The Caps WANT NO PART of the Rangers. That's it in a nutshell. When you don't want any part of another team, you play like you did tonight.

Once you can defend that effort, feel free to come back and attack a poster who vents in the poetic fashion our dear tmac does. Until then, zip it.

It is still mind boggling to me that BB is still employed in the Caps organization. I cannot recall how many times I have heard him say the following:

"We need a sixty minute effort"

"We need to get pucks to the net"

"We need to go to the net"

The most we ever get from this team is a 30 minute effort. Sure they are winning some games but those are hardly the result of a full 60 min effort.

Yes, we do get plenty of pucks to the net. From about 30-40 feet out and directly into the goalies chest protector.

Rarely are any Caps players willing to go to the net and create havoc around the crease. When they do we usually score, but unfortunately this is a subsection of our 30 min effort. I mentioned earlier that I can only recall three instances tonight that we got down around the crease mucked it up. Twice it was Hendricks and then Knuble once on the power play.

If I had the kind of follow through on my goals in my job I would have been fired long ago. I don't even know where I am going with this rant but I just needed to say it. BB needs to go. I've been saying this to my friends since the game & slaughter against the Pens and they told me I was being rash.

We'll have to disagree about Erskine tonite, I thought he played great. I don't think he was afraid of going after Stepan for the hit, so I'm not sure why you'd question his (non) response as it appeared to be just some tough play along the boards. Of course most Caps fans will think a suspension is warranted; I think Johnny E. saw the same thing the refs and myself did.

2 hits, a missed slash, another pseudo hit, a phantom hit he got credit for, and a cuff to the back of Eminger's head after Eminger roughed him up in the corner.

And yet, it doesn't thrill me. Because Semin is still a lazy hockey player.

This notion of him "hustling back on defense" is a farce because it somehow equates to him being a good defensive forward. Hustling back on defense is just one little part of being a good defensive forward. Refusing to engage a player along the boards to interfere with the player's puck possession is the most glaring hole in his game.

but pink bonnet for tonight's game goes to Jeff Schultz. It matches his pink panties. Schultz showed ZERO signs of resistance tonight. You can't tell from watching Sarge skate, what the score of a game is. It could be 7 zip Caps, or the other way around. The guy is catatonic. No urgency. Just fiddlef@rting his way thru life.

When you don't want any part of another team, you play like you did tonight.
------------------------------------------
You also play like that when the coach has lost the team.

OV's gotta be pullin his hair out. He's out there bustin his @ss, dancin people on every shift and we can't get squat outta anybody else.

So disappointing............ The problem is, I can remember MY Caps team. MY Caps team if they got their @sses handed to them there was he!! to pay the next game. Why don't I feel like these are MY Caps?

Step 1: Have a GM build a roster with way too many soft players... soft MENTALLY and PHYSICALLY.

Step 2: Hire a soft butterball of a coach to coach the soft players and kiss their "ouchies" and put the stars on pedestals as much as possible.

Result: You have innately soft players being allowed to play toward the soft end of their already soft spectrums because they don't even have a coach who inspires them to play with intensity and sacrifice their bodies on a regular basis.

Solution: Ditch a bunch of the softies and replace them with equally affordable players who bring necessary grit and toughness to the roster. These aren't just words that cstanton tosses around for the fun of it. It is REALLY A HUGE PROBLEM. We lack those traits. We're soft as crap overall. This is hockey, not badminton.

Schultzie, Potty, Chimmie, Matty Pee Pee (who actually tries to throw his weight around but is just too tiny), Semin, Gordielocks, Stecksie (he tries but he is just timid and surprisingly weak for a guy his size... lack of core strength is my guess on the physical side... leverage and technique makes him good at faceoffs which don't translate to other areas of the game), Fehrsie (he occasionally shows the tenacity we need out of him regularly but 1 out of 10 games won't work, esp. when you miss the next 10 due to injury), etc... all too soft. Too many of them.

Alzner is actually relatively physical on this group of softies. Who would've thought that? And that says less about Alzner and more about the softness of the team.

Carlson is regressing in some areas and should be at least as physical of a player as Alzner. He is at times but the softness of this team is rubbing off on him like it does on other players. Awful for his development stage. This is similar to the Stepan case cstanton cites above: He is a product of his environment. Carlson has so many tools that he simply needs to be shaped properly to be the best he can be. That ain't happening in the soft ass environment created in this organization.

Johansson tries and does mix it up and throw his body around a little but he is too soft as well. Part of that is just due to his age. Part is due to his size. Part is due to him still adapting to NA hockey... If you think Johansson is gritty, you have been watching too much Caps hockey. It's okay if he's one of the softest players on your team. We'll see how he develops in that area over time. Don't get me wrong: I really like his hockey sense and the overall package but he's still a work in progress and has a lot of experience to gain before we know what he will be at his peak.

This roster is just poorly constructed and it got worse this past offseason when McPhee sat on his hands and got younger and even softer than before. He did what rebuilding teams do, not what teams that are supposedly in contention do. Not what teams that lost their 3rd straight Game 7 at home to end their season do.

Wait, I'm not saying for a second that he didn't have a good overall game. He did. I also thought Hannan played a great game. To me when you have a "heart" starved team and the little "heart" you have doesn't repond in a situation like that, I'm not givin that guy the Dman of the game is all I'm sayin.

You bring up a good point though, why didn't Erskine respond. He was going to then stopped. I understand your point of maybe Erskine didn't think it was that bad. Well maybe I don't because he was a live bobblehead there for a couple seconds. How can you not see that?

I bash GMGM as much as the next fan, but I can't believe he's this bad. Who believes a roster with Tyler Sloan and a bunch of rookies is a potential Stanley Cup champion? I wonder if Uncle Ted took the money tree from GMGM. This "we have a bunch of first rounders" sounds awfully familiar.

If Erskine played for Philly or the Pens, he would've responded without a 2nd thought.

He plays for the Caps. Which means he probably 2nd guesses himself before jumping on another player. This team doesn't play "team tough". So players don't instinctively respond to hits to protect their teammates.

vermont, he meant aside from Erskine and Carlson's one hit. He already touched on Erskine.

Erskine was the most emotionally and physically involved in this game.

I won't hesitate to call him out for his positional issues and poor decision-making but while some of those issues are innate, some of them are due to butterball's coaching.

Erskine made a lousy play tonight where he skated behind the opposing net and rifled a pass backwards through the crease. That led to the 3-on-1 that Hannan broke up with his stick. Hannan gets props but iirc, the Ranger lost control of the puck before Hannan took away his space. We got kind of lucky, too.

Either way, on a team that SO SORELY LACKS BALLS, you can't get enough of Erskine.

We aren't a contender anyway. We have zero chance to win the cup this year. And F off sgm if you're reading this. I know that we mathematically have a shot. Stop using your perverted logic. You and everybody else know what I mean.

The fact is that toughness is a dying breed in this organization, to a greater extent than anywhere else. Again, sgm, before you cite "soft" players like Datsyuk like you did a while back, watch some hockey and stop just looking at stats. Datsyuk is grittier and harder on the puck than all but a few Caps despite his hit totals or any other stat. Same goes for Zetterberg. Those are stars with skill that have the work ethic of grinders.

We need to treasure our tough-nosed role players because the less and less of them that we have, the further we are away from the goal. They don't all have to be Erskine types but they have to engage mentally and physically in one kind of battle or another. There is so much beyond skill that it takes to win when it matters. If there wasn't, teams like the Oilers wouldn't be bottom dwellers.

Really disgraceful that none of the Caps even attempted to avenge the hit on Green. Shows the kind of character these guys lack, which also has a lot to do with the reason why they got blown out tonight and will go nowhere in the playoffs.

FIRE BB!! FIRE BB!! FIRE BB!! This should have been blatantly obvious to get rid of this CLOWN after another game 7 loss AT HOME!! and if that wasn't enough for you how the hell wasn't that losing streak in December not a good enough sign????

This team needs some heart & leadership. A guy like Chris Neal comes to mind. Hit by Stepan wasn't malicious, but in the end is still illegal. TSN guys basically put it "an elbow or a shoulder makes no difference, it's still a blow to the head and should have been a penalty". Without a doubt, Stepan should have gotten run over by someone last night as he was throwing his weight around last night.

A week to prepare and rests his players as they prepare for the last push for the playoffs. The team comes out flat and unprepared, plays weak and stupid throughout. How can BigBaby still be a coach? BB's coaching is a joke. If that Phat B is still coach next year, I expect many fans will not renew their subscriptions. Years past I travelled from Chocotown to watch 4-5 games a year, my old hometown team. Not this year. After last year's repeated game 7 loss, I had it with a BigBaby's soft approach to coaching. I doubt I'm the only person who refuses to pay good money to watch that bufoon coach a team.

Ted the fans are mad you need to fire McPhee . Get your fat lazy a@@ up and away from the table and do the job that a good owner should do . Fire that stupid no good MF today . Your hockey F@@king is a joke . Your coaching staff could not compete on a DIVii level. The team needs to be guted of all D men except 3 all others clean your junk out and go ba to your sheity countries. Ted did you know Mcphee is banging semen and thats why he signed him for one more year. Cut that lazy russain now ! There are 1oo Matt Hendricks out there and all they need is a chance go get them . And please tell Laich to shut the F@@k up everyone is very tried of him running his mouth and saying the same ole crap over and over. And one last thing Ted if you think you are teaching your childern how to be great leaders of this city please stop because you haven;t really done anything to be named in that honor . Do your fing job Ted. The fans are booing your team ted .

I understand the frustration but some of the statements made just sound like a mindless rants. "Your coaching staff could not compete at the Divii level." Really? The Caps are in 5th in the conference and 9th in the league, the National Hockey League. I like having Matt Hendricks on the team but he is a role player. If you have more than couple of them you end up falling like Atlanta has. I am on board with removing BB but he's not a bad coach, he has been successful at every level, he's just lost this team. It happens to 99.9% of the coaches. Jacques Lemaire stepped down after a massive collapse in last year's playoffs. Laviolette was fired in another city for his ineffectiveness. Mike Keenan has won a Cup but was fired on multiple occasions. I could go on and on. I know BB hasn't won a Cup but this is his first gig in the NHL. If/when he's fired here get ready to see him somewhere else in the NHL some day. He's won about 100 more games than he has lost so someone will give him another shot.

The problem with this team is that it has lost it's identity. They are adept at playing one style of hockey (run-and-gun) but are being forced to play a completely different style. One that the personnel is not suited to. They don't have the right personnel to dump-and-chase the puck or get the dirty goals in the crease. By changing styles so drastically, they've taken away from their skilled players on offense. There is nothing at the trade deadline that will fix this problem. This team is not designed to win 1-0 or 2-1 games CONSISTENTLY. They are not leaving themselves any margin for error, which with young goaltenders and questionable defense at times, they will need to have any chance in the playoffs. I would agree, a new voice is needed. If not this year, then certainly before next season.

The problem with this team is that it has lost it's identity. They are adept at playing one style of hockey (run-and-gun) but are being forced to play a completely different style. One that the personnel is not suited to. They don't have the right personnel to dump-and-chase the puck or get the dirty goals in the crease. By changing styles so drastically, they've taken away from their skilled players on offense. There is nothing at the trade deadline that will fix this problem. This team is not designed to win 1-0 or 2-1 games CONSISTENTLY. They are not leaving themselves any margin for error, which with young goaltenders and questionable defense at times, they will need to have any chance in the playoffs. I would agree, a new voice is needed. If not this year, then certainly before next season.

It's a single game guys. A lot of good teams have gotten blown out this year. They just came off a pretty good road trip and the evil Semin stepped up and delivered a win to the team when it mattered most (and against a very physical Ducks team). Last night, second most hits. As for the "trademark" play: some of you presume to read Semin's mind. There is, evidently, one correct way to play and Semin plays the other way. All of these comments show much more about your own perceptual filters - how you see what you want to see - than about what is really happening on the ice...

Getting eliminated in the 1st round last year after dominating the regular season in historic offensive fashion was obviously the worst thing that could've happened to this team. They (BB) were left questioning their very identity, because everything they thought they knew was not.

Two thirds through the season, BB still doesn't know if he really wants to go back to the defensive style that got Cassidy fired or try to play to the teams offensive strengths. This team no lnger has any identity. The MTL Canadiens took it and disposed of it forever.

Oh and MG is so SOFT. I used to think we could trade him for a legitimate tough blue liner, but apparently the rest of the league has no interest in him. Can we at least limit his ice time?

At game speed, it looked like a good counter hit - the kind Laughlin so frequently praises.

Watching the replay, I feel the same way. Good counter hit.

I'm not upset by the fact that no one jumped Stepan right after the play. The puck was still in the defensive zone, and New York had possession.

But in a 6-0 game? How did Stepan not end up taking a beating? On so many teams, Green's injury would've been an excuse to pound someone. Am I mistaking professionalism for a lack of intensity or something?

The team played terrible last night. Someone should've cared enough to make a statement.

This '10 team will never compete in, much less win, the 2nd Season. Unlike the '98 team this team (for the past 2 seasons) has no spark or passion because with little exception they're all heartless when it comes to dedication and devotion to each other.

Do you think Pittsburgh's bench wouldn't have emptied to destroy the guy that tried to knee Sid's or Gino's knee out from under him (Cooke's knee on Ovie)? Damn the PIMs; establish and maintain respect to change your "soft" reputations before it's too late for this season, and your coach gets shipped to north-wherever. (Hey, not a bad idea...)

The unanswered head-shot on Green last night highlights the league-known fact that the Caps just will not stick up for each other: ever. Your best D attacker gets cheaply laid-out in front of 20,000 and nobody crushes the guy?!?!

Where is this teams stones? When will they stop playing 60 mins of detached, dispassionate hockey every game? The league has their number - that they're soft, heartless and won't stick up for each other - so they just can't show-up like last year and take points.

How about Ovie? He's gotten progressively fewer calls this season because not one Cap takes exception to opponents increased transgressions toward one of league's greatest talents. Ref's mirror the team's approach to looking after #8 - they don't. Ref's figure "the team doesn't care, so let them play". Sid gets every call Ovie doesn't because, yes, Ovie is bigger and tougher, but his teammates never stick-up for him like Sid's. Put Ovie in Pitt, Chicago, Detroit, Philly - anywhere but here - and this kind of trash will only occasionally happen.

BB was dumbfounded when interviewed live after Montreal won G7 last year saying "...we took 95 shots (something like that) and they blocked 52, so it wasn't as if we didn't have opportunities to win it..." Sadly, BB unwittingly told the world what the league and knowledgeable fans long knew: This team and coach still did not get it! Montreal won with heart, devotion and dedication to each other. Philly won with and rode their passion and grit to just an OT loss short of SCF G7- the Caps have no clue what any of this means and will never hoist the Cup until they finally "get it". Clearly, from BB on down, they don't know what they don't know.

Dale Hunter and Donald Brashear are gone, but were is their heart, dedication and devotion to team, passion and grit?

Don't hold your breath for these losers - they're either too arrogant, too selfish, or too mentally and physically soft to get it.

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